Gold Bar, Worth $500K, Stolen From Key West Museum...

[jeff k]

http://cbs4.com/local/gold.bar.theft.2.1869470.html

 

[rgecy]

You have got to be kidding me! They wont get away with it.

Wonder how they did it? Maybe cut the bar, or maybe they found a way to get the prize out of the puzzle box! You have to admit it was very tempting! I even wondered how I could get it out! Not that I would perpetrate such an act. But tempting none the less!

Robert

 

[diggummup]

I wonder how long it's gonna take to catch them? People are crazy.

 

[GopherDaGold]

Anybody else see this:

"Fisher is best known for finding over 40 tons of silver and gold were located including over 100,000 Spanish silver coins known as "Pieces of Eight", gold coins, Columbian emeralds, silver and gold artifacts and over 1000 silver bars, from the sunken ship Atocha in 1985.

The find eventually totaled almost half a million dollars."

(tons of silver, gold, and emeralds worth only a half million? )

 

[jeff k]

KEY WEST, Fla. — Two thieves entered a museum shortly after closing time and stole a gold bar worth about $550,000 that had been recovered from the shipwreck of a Spanish galleon off the Florida Keys, police said.

Police and the FBI are working to identify the suspects who took the gold bar Wednesday afternoon from the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, where it had been on display for more than 20 years.

The gold bar had been locked in a see-through case that allowed visitors to touch and lift it, while keeping it secure. Security footage shows the suspects breaking into the case after the museum closed for the night, police said.

The bar was recovered from the Santa Margarita shipwreck in 1980 by the late Key West shipwreck salvor Mel Fisher and his crew, while searching for the Santa Margarita and Nuestra Senora de Atocha galleons.

The Spanish ships — loaded with gold, silver and jewelry — were two of eight to sink during a 1622 hurricane. According to the museum's website, a fleet of 28 ships had left Havana bound for Spain, all packed with treasure.

"Everybody who comes to the museum is encouraged to lift the gold bar and to have a firsthand experience with history," said Melissa Kendrick, the museum's executive director. "This is one of the most iconic and best known objects in the museum."

Kendrick said the museum's insurance company is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the return of the 74.85-ounce bar.

One suspect is described as a white male, about six feet tall with dark hair and a medium build, the Key West Police reported. The second suspect is about five feet, six inches tall.

"The security systems worked because we knew the bar was stolen within 10 minutes, and we have usable video and photos for law enforcement," Kendrick said. "The museum made a decision to designate this as a handling object, allowing people to touch the artifact, and this was part of the risk involved in granting public access."

The museum and associated Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society are an internationally recognized center for excavation, preservation, research and exhibition of New World maritime artifacts.

The museum holds the richest single collection of 17th-century maritime and shipwreck antiquities in the Western Hemisphere, including treasures and artifacts from the Atocha and Santa Margarita.

Much of both galleons' precious cargo was recovered in the 1970s and 1980s under the leadership of Fisher, founder of the society and museum, who died in 1998. The search for artifacts, treasures and other items from the vessels continues to be directed by his family.

 

[old man]

You have got to be kidding me! They wont get away with it.

Wonder how they did it? Maybe cut the bar, or maybe they found a way to get the prize out of the puzzle box! You have to admit it was very tempting! I even wondered how I could get it out! Not that I would perpetrate such an act. But tempting none the less!

Robert

Robert, Didn't I see you at the Raw Bar having lunch on Wednesday? You kind of match one of the descriptions in that article.
( Don't worry, I won't tell anyone I saw you there. LOL )

 

[itmaiden]

Keep watching "Pawn Stars". We will see them again eventually


itmaiden

 

[wwwtimmcp]

I actualy lifted that bar back in 1987 I hope they catch whoever did it.

 

[Saturna]

They'll probably send it in to Cash4Gold and receive a check for $299.95

 

[Gobpile]

That was epic,still laughing!!

 

[PyrateJim]

Cant wait to see the photos of the two (2) thieves broadcasted around the world. Hopefully they will get these out sooner rather than later.

The article http://www.keysnet.com/2010/08/19/250039/thieves-rip-off-550000-gold-bar.html has a good picture (reposted here) of the bar.

I too, have lifted that bar on many occassions and had the same dreams go through my head.

 

[mad4wrecks]

Pat Clyne said he was in the museum gift shop at the exact time the theft took place. Only one wall separated him from the hallway where the gold bar is. (was)

I think the guys were agents for Spain, trying to steal "their" treasure back one piece at a time!

Here is a picture of Monica trying to figure out how to remove that bar last year.


Tom

 

[Saturna]

Holy cow, that's all that held it in place ? That plexiglas assembly ?

Wow, I have no idea what the security to break into the building itself is, but once inside a basic hammer gets you a gold bar.



... and I guess it did.

 

[Lucky Eddie]

Is it only me?
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Yup yup yup.... I'd steal away with that Monica's heart before I'd worry about any ol gold bar with 75 ounces of gold in it!.

But - with that said.........there's something definitely wrong with that article!.

Source: http://www.perthmintrefinery.com.au/Refinery/ValueAddedBullionProduct.aspx

Some years ago - After a real estate deal that took 20 years in total to complete, (including the last 7 of which was getting approvals to rezone farm land and sub divide it and put in all the asphalt roads fences and underground power etc) I sold off all the real estate that I owned as part of settling up my fathers estate (we were partners for 20 odd years in a few businesses including this land).

It was at a time not that long ago - when the stock market was volatile and the housing bubble, where luxury houses went up 120% in just 12 months.

I wanted somewhere to put the many hundreds of 1000's of $ of capital where its value would be preserved - regardless of what wild swings the real estate market went thru and whether banks failed or real estate boomed or crumbled etc etc.

So I went to our local mint and handed over a personal cheque for several hundred thousand dollars, in exchange for gold bars...

From memory I bought about 3 x 50 oz bars and another 4 or so 10 ounce bars.

Now - they don't just hand em too you over the counter to put in your pocket because your pants fall down in public if you do (don't ask me how I know this.!)

No - they take much higher security than that - they send em out to you in a lil cardboard box with a courier delivery guy - who has absolutely NO protection, except for the fact that - even he doesn't know what he is carrying!

But here's the kicker!

The 50 oz bars are no where NEAR the size of that bar in the perspex box that's been photographed and described as 75 troy ounces, they fit in the palm of your hand, - this I KNOW for fact having owned a few. (Of course I had the utmost security for them after i tried getting a safety deposit box in a local bank - only to find they don't have them except in the head office of the bank in the nearest capital city and hat those are all used / allocated already and you have to wait on a list for one to become available IF it ever does.

So I did what you do and kept them all in a cardboard shoe box in the top of our wardrobe!.

Anyway - the point is - theres no way that bar is ~75 troy ounces - IMHO - based on the size and thickness of a commercial minted 50 ounce bar, I reckon at least maybe 150 ounces in that bar at a guess...if not 200 ounces.

The thing is - FEW people ever actually BUY gold bars - (lets face it how many of us ever actually cash OUT all our real estate holdings in our lifetimes) and even fewer put their wealth into gold, MOST re invest in more real estate, or many by PAPER gold - some sorts of Gold certificates saying that the paper bonds are gold backed or whatever and the paper is stired and later converted.

There just arent that many people in the world familiar with handling on a regular basis REAL gold bars.

For that reason Journalists etc can PRINT or repeat fables or half truths published by say the museum involved in this case with the majority of people never questioning what they read in print or see in the photo's.

Now MAYBE the museum, deliberately understated the size & weight or the value of their bar to make it less attractive, to thieves or something - i don't know - I just know that looking at it in those photos in relation to 3 x 50 ounce bars that i have held in the palm of one hand, - the size does not compute - to my mind 3 x 50 ounce bars might JUST ABOUT make up the size of that bar in the pics.

To my way of thinking based on experience theres a 100% error there somewhere - that bar seems to be about twice the stated weight and value is my honest best guess.

IF the whole idea is to demonstrate that Gold weighs so much more than people think - when they first lift it - then having twice the amount of gold in the bar as is stated just makes the impression that "its really heavy for only 75 troy ounces" that much more "amazing" to those who actually lift it!

In fact it would increase the "amount of amazement" by 100%!

Isn't that the whole point of the exhibit - to do just that?

Least that's what I reckon.

Others mileage may vary.

Cheers

 

[Galleon Hunter]

A buddy of mine who was doing some work on the Slobodna shipwreck in the Keys visited the museum a couple weeks ago. Apparently while he was there a boy (about 8-10) managed to pull the bar out of the box, he held it up and said "Hey mom look I got it out!" She was highly embarrassed and gave the bar back to a museum staffer. Apparently the display is quite old and the trick is not pulling it out the circular cut hole, but rather the plexiglass is beginning to seperate at the corners and you can bend the plexiglass enough to get the bar out the side or bottom....

Hmmmm.. You would think they would have fixed the problem instead of just putting it back inside the defective display box!!! Guess NOT!

 

[PyrateJim]

Wonder if one, or both, of these guys were int hemuseum and witness that? To pull someting like this off as smoothly as they did, they have had to have been in there recently, looking things over and planning it out. I'd be spending hours/days, going over video trying to see them in there before and perhaps get a better picture of them when they were checking out the security cameras.

The should put the pictures of these guys in the display case instead.

Apparently the display is quite old and the trick is not pulling it out the circular cut hole, but rather the plexiglass is beginning to seperate at the corners and you can bend the plexiglass enough to get the bar out the side or bottom....

Hmmmm.. You would think they would have fixed the problem instead of just putting it back inside the defective display box!!! Guess NOT!

 

[FISHEYE]

Only a 10k reward for a 500k gold bar?I got a 10k reward from a insurance co for finding a stolen corvette several years ago that was worth 40k.

 

[NGE]

With that explanation, I will say that it was an inside job, unless of course, the two that took it were there the same day that lil boy got it out and saw how easy it was.......NGE

 

[Donovan]

Galleon hunter,
Your buddy was pulling your leg. No little kid has removed the gold bar from it's display case. Nor has anyone else. The thieves used a tool to break the Lexan box. Smash and grab. They also tried to get into the gold chain display but were unsuccessful. The whole event was recorded on security cameras. Now between facial recognition and fingerprints...... We will see how it all ends up. There is, after all, only one way out of town.

 

[Donovan]

Sorry about sending three shots, only one was supposed to go. The stolen bar is, I believe, the bar to the left of the 6 lb. half disc.
Here is a shot of the main pile of silver bars on Atocha.
Donovan